Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida held General Mark Milley and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to account during a hearing before the US House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.
"You spent more time with Bob Woodward on this book, than you spent analyzing the very likely prospect that the Afghanistan government was going to fall immediately to the Taliban, didn't you?" Gaetz asked Milley
"Not even close Congressman," Milley said.
"Oh, really? Because you said right after Kabul fell that no one could have anticipated the immediate fall of the Ghani government. When did you become aware that Joe Biden tried to get Ghani to lie about the conditions in Afghanistan? He did that in July. Did you know that right away?" Gaetz pressed.
"I'm not aware of what President Biden..." Milley began.
"You're not aware of the phone call that Biden had with Ghani, where he said, whether it is true or not, we want you to go out there and paint a rosy picture of what's going on in Afghanistan. You're the chief military adviser to the President, you said that the Taliban was not going to defeat the government of Afghanistan militarily, which by the way, they cut through him like a hot knife through butter. And then the president tries to get Ghani to lie. When did you become aware of that attempt?" Gaetz asked.
"One," Milley said, "is what I said was the situation was a stale mate. And if we kept advisors with the government of Afghanistan, and the Army would have still been there. That's what I said. Whether that's right or wrong? I don't know."
"Seems wrong now," Gaetz said before pivoting to question Austin. "Secretary Austin, are you capable of assessing whether another has the will to fight?"
"No, we're not. And that's the point that the chairman made earlier," Austin said.
"That's just like an incredibly disappointing thing for the Secretary of Defense to simply say, I can't assess whether someone has the will to fight," Gaetz said.
"But it is consistent with your record," Gaetz continued. "I mean, during the Obama administration, I think they gave you about $48 million to go train-up some folks in Syria to go take on the Assad government. And I think your testimony was that only four or five survive first contact with the enemy. So what confidence should this committee have in you, or should the country have in you when you've now confessed to us, and whether it's the swing in a miss in Afghanistan, the General Milley talked to the Senate about yesterday, total failure, or whether it was your failures in Syria, you don't seem capable to look at a fighting force and determine whether or not they have the will."
"The end result," Austin said, "was the SDF that we stood up, that was very, very instrumental in turning the tide of battle up in Syria."
"Turned it so much. You've got Assad in power in Syria, you got the Taliban in power and Afghanistan? I mean, where have you been?" Gaetz said with frustration.
"The focus was ISIS, Congressman, and we and those forces had significant effect on the ISIS network," Austin said.
"It just seems like you're chronically bad at this," Gaetz said. "And you have admitted that I guess, which is, to your credit. But when people in the military, like Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller stand up and demand accountability, when they say that you all screwed up, when they point out that General Milley's statement... that the government of Afghanistan is not going to get defeated by the Taliban? Well, he ends up in the brig, and you all end up in front of us and your former employer, Raytheon ends up with a lot of money."
"We have poured cash and blood and credibility into a Ghani government that was a mirage, it fell immediately. And while the guy sitting next to you was off talking to Phil Rucker and was off doing his thing with Bob Woodward. We were buying into the big lie, the big lie that this that this was ever going to be successful in that we could ever rely on the Afghanistan government for anything at all," Gaetz said.
"General Milley," Gaetz said, "you kind of gave up the game earlier, when you said you wanted to address elements of your personal conduct that were in question. We're not questioning your personal conduct. We're questioning in your official capacity going and undermining the chain of command, which is obviously what you did."
Milley interrupted to say that he "did not undermine the chain of command." Gaetz and Milley went back and forth, with Gaetz saying he did and Milley saying he did not.
"You said yesterday that you weren't going to resign when senators asked you this question. And I believe that you guys probably won't resign. You seem to be very happy failing up over there. But if we didn't have a president, that was so addled, you all would be fired, because that is what you deserve. You have let down the people who wear the uniform in my district and all around this country, and you're far more interested in what your perception is and how people think about you, and insider Washington books then you care about winning," Gaetz concluded as his time was up.
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